By Dianne Anderson

With so many banks crying poverty under the emergency TARP bailout last November until now with tightfisted lending that’s sinking small businesses, it’s hard not to notice the tens of millions of dollars in payouts that keep coming for top banking executives.

Not to mention those tens of millions in profits for shareholders that came down since the TARP.

From now through March 26,  the California Labor Federation and AFL-CIO will head protests in a rolling campaign through all 50 states to remind America that that the banks were initially directly responsible for the largest collapse of the economy since the Great Depression.

On Wednesday, March 24, the “Good Jobs Rally” in Orange County starts at noon at Bank of America, 1418 N. Main Street in Santa Ana and ends at Chase Bank on Main and Washington Street. The rally is one of numerous events nationwide.

Priscilla Luviano with the Orange County Labor Federation said the rally is expected to bring out over 100 protestors demanding that banks pay back their fair share to the country.

“Millions have lost their jobs and homes, retirement savings and everything,” Luviano said. “Our basic message is stop refusing your fair share and stop fighting financial reform. Start lending again to communities and businesses.”

She said the protests target the nation’s biggest banks responsible for the economic downfall and lost jobs, including Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Wachovia.

“Our biggest message is, ‘restore the jobs that you’ve destroyed,'” she said. “We’re going to be holding signs, and making noise to get some attention.”

Steve Smith, spokesperson for the California Labor Federation in Sacramento, said that it is disturbing to see banks dodging their role and responsibility toward rebuilding the economy.

The union is calling for Wall Street banks to pay back the cost of the nation’s bank bailout, and impose a special levy on Wall Street bonuses that run over $400,000, especially as exorbitant bonuses keep flowing down to executives. The union is calling for taxing income on hedge funds and private equity managers, which he said comprise some of the wealthiest enterprise of the nation.

“The campaign is all about making Wall Street pay for creation of  new jobs,” Smith said. “The loss of private sector jobs in this country has been primarily due to the collapse, which was caused by these same Wall Street banks.”

Tight lending restrictions are hitting small businesses, which are responsible for employing over half of all jobs in the nation. Small businesses need money to grow and create jobs, but the banks aren’t lending.

Yet another major aspect of the economic damage is massive continuing foreclosures at an estimated 8,000 foreclosures daily in America. At the same time, big banks spend millions lobbying against financial reform.

Last December, a study by Common Cause and Public Campaign showed compiled analysis that banks banded tightly together, including Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo, to fight against loan modifications with over $80 million in lobby power, and $6 million in campaign contributions. Late last year, President Obama blamed the banks for the worst economy in decades, emphasizing that their executives pulled down $10-20 million in bonuses as Americans faced 10 percent unemployment.

Smith said there’s only so much that can be done in the halls of Congress. Much of it now relies on the grassroots movement to change the way banks do business.

“Even those banks that had paid back the funds still utilized public funds to continue the egregious practices that led to this problem in the first place,” he said.

Without real financial regulation, the bailout is like a band-aid on a hemorrhaging economy of recent years, he said. The organization is calling for bank regulation, which is expected to be a huge fight under such a privileged and monied lobby.

It’s hard to fight against the banking industry’s high powered lobbyists in Washington, D.C..

“Just like what’s going to be happening in Orange County, when people are out in the streets showing their discontent in a public way for what the banks are doing, Congress members see what’s going on in their districts.”

For more information, call OC Labor Federation at 714.385.1534 or priscilla@oclabor.org.